Selects Post Strong Showing

Sunday, July 26, 2015

The Selects put together another strong tournament showing in Brussels, ultimately falling just short in the championship game on Sunday evening.

To open the tournament, the Selects scored early and often to trounce the Walton Brewers 12-0 in a Saturday morning affair, with Shayne Riepert notching a five-inning one-hitter. They followed that with a convincing 8-1 win over the Port Burwell Lakers to claim a place in the championship game. Riepert again threw all five innings, allowing just one unearned run.

Their opponent in the final, the Stratford Jr. Cubs, were looking to win the tournament for the second straight year. But the Selects wasted no time in jumping out to a 1-0 advantage. Kevin Ryrie singled to lead off in the first and moved to second on a Brad Cleasby sacrifice bunt, before Aaron McCaw cashed the game's first run with a two-out single.

Alas, Stratford answered in the bottom half courtesy of a Cody Werner home run, and took a 3-1 lead in the fourth. Meanwhile, the Selects continued to threaten, but couldn't score, stranding runners at third in the second (a Tom Allan triple), third (a Ryrie single), and sixth (a Mike Brown triple) innings. Down to their final out, Allan stroked a single up the middle, but Stratford pitcher Jonathan Baker got a liner to third to end the game. Riepert threw six strong innings in the loss.

Despite falling just short in the final, the Selects put together a solid weekend, getting offensive contributions throughout the lineup and excellent pitching from Riepert. They'll look to carry that through to a tough KFL stretch drive in the coming weeks.